SPECIAL TO THE STAR
DETROIT - A Toronto drama professor has been charged after a wild air rage incident aboard a Dallas-bound American Airlines jet last Friday.

A man allegedly got into a brawl with the pilot and crew, during which he demanded he be let off the plane and yelled, ``We are all going to die. The plane is going to crash.''

Eventually, the man was handcuffed, with a passenger's help, and the plane made a safe emergency landing at Detroit's Metropolitan Airport.

Donald MacQuarrie, 53, a professor in the theatre department of Ryerson Polytechnic University, was arraigned yesterday in U.S. District Court on charges of violating the ``special maritime and territorial jurisdiction'' of the United States.

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I'm completely surprised. He is very encouraging, and a very nice man.- Drama student Erin Vander Burgh

The court accepted a plea of not guilty and MacQuarrie was released on a $10,000 (U.S.) personal bond. He must return for a pretrial hearing Jan. 22.

MacQuarrie and his wife, Melanie, declined to comment after the arraignment. The couple were on a vacation celebrating his retirement at the time of the incident; the flight was to go on to Maui after a stop in Dallas.

FBI special agent Terry Booth filed the criminal complaint before the court, outlining events aboard the flight as witnesses described them.

None of the allegations in the complaint has been proved in court.

A flight attendant told Booth that after the jet took off from Pearson International Airport, a man kept going to the restroom, where he banged on the walls and door.

After he returned to his seat, she said, the man yelled: ``We are all going to die. The plane is going to crash.''

Booth's account said the flight attendant told Capt. David Purdue about the man's behaviour. Purdue left the cockpit and found the man lying on the aisle floor.

The captain returned to pilot the plane and the man got into a seat. But after five minutes, the flight attendant said, the man jumped up, ran toward the cockpit and yelled: ``I want off this plane.''

When Purdue left the cockpit a second time, he was charged by the man and kicked in the chest.

Booth said a passenger helped the captain and a flight attendant put handcuffs on the man, and the plane landed safely in Detroit.

Police officers who met the jet said they had to carry the man off the plane because he was intoxicated and resistant.

The man became physically aggressive, kicking and attempting to bite the officers, Booth stated in the affidavit.

While being escorted to Annapolis Hospital, the man tried to get out of the restraints, bit the officer then threatened to kill him, Booth stated.

In the affidavit, Booth said he found two bottles of vodka in MacQuarrie's carry-on luggage. He was also told by Melanie MacQuarrie that her husband is an alcoholic and ``binge'' drinker, according to the affidavit.

Melanie told the agent the couple drank a dozen beers the night before they left and smoked some marijuana, the affidavit said.

They had three more beers before getting on the plane.

Detroit attorney Gerald Lorence, defending MacQuarrie in court, said his client has no previous record.

Idiot... While you really want to beat people like this up, it's probably better to give them some sort of help. Obviously, people that do this have a mental problem, and needs help, along with a suitable penalty of course.